Iraq’s Kurds threaten Turkish troops
Jonathan S. Landay
and Mark McDonald
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
IRBIL, Iraq — Rebel Kurdish
leaders warned Sunday that Turk
ish troops will be attacked if they
are allowed to enter northern Iraq
in return for Turkey’s support for a
U.S. invasion.
“Any intervention under any pre
text whatsoever will lead to clash
es,” said Hoshiyar Zebari, a senior
official of the Kurdistan Democrat
ic Party, one of two parties that con
trol the Kurd-dominated north.
“Nobody should think we are bluff
ing on this issue.”
Zebari and Latif Rashid, a senior
official with the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, told reporters that their
parties do not plan a confrontation.
But popular anger at Turkish inter
vention would trigger “uncontrolled
clashes,” Zebari said.
The Bush administration report
edly is close to finalizing an agree
ment that would allow Turkish
troops to enter northern Iraq as part
of a deal under which U.S. troops
could use Turkish bases as staging
areas for an invasion.
Turkey has for years been struggling
to crush its own Kurdish rebel group,
the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK
Ankara says its forces are needed
to prevent the KDP and PUK from re
viving a drive for independence that
could re-energize the PKK.
The Kurds’ comments represent
ed the most explicit warning to date
to the Bush administration and
Turkey against concluding a plan for
tens of thousands of Turkish troops
to flow into northern Iraq behind in
vading U.S. forces.
The dispute could seriously com
plicate the Kurds’ cooperation in
the Pentagon’s strategy to use their
Vermont-size enclave to open a
northern front against Saddam Hus
sein, who withdrew his forces from
the area in 1991.
In the longer term, U.S. forces that
would occupy Iraq after ousting Sad
dam could become enmeshed in a
bloody tussle over oil-rich territory
that could trigger wider instability
and erase any hope of building a sta
ble democracy.
“It will be bad for the image of the
United States, Britain and other
countries who want to help Iraq, to
see two of their allies, Turkey and
Kurdistan, at each other’s throats,”
said Zebari.
He said the Kurdish officials and
the Turkish military would hold talks
on Tuesday.
Turkey especially wants to stop
the KDP and PUK from seizing the
oil-rich cities of Kirkuk and Mosul as
that would give the Kurds control of
huge financial resources.
Under an apparent compromise
with the Pentagon, Turkish forces
would remain under Turkish com
mand, and could surround — but
not capture — Mosul or Kirkuk.
Turkish troops would also move to
eradicate an estimated 5,000 PKK
fighters hiding in northern Iraq.
©2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. McDonald
reported from Silopi, Turkey.
Conference showcases internees’ experiences
Former Japanese-American
internees reminisce about
internment camps following
Megumi’s performance
Roman Gokhman
Campus/City Culture Reporter
Forced to relocate to an intern
ment camp after the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor in December of
1941, Martha Yamasaki and her fam
ily sold all of their belongings and
boarded a dirty train.
The blinds on the windows were
shut because Yamasaki’s captors did
n’t want her and the other prisoners
to see where they were going. Later,
she and the others were transferred
into the backs of trucks for the re
mainder of the journey.
After arriving at Gamp 3, Ya
masaki was fingerprinted and given
a mattress cover that she filled with
straw and used for a bed. The camp
had a communal mess hall, shower
and bathroom. The family of five
had to share av20-square-foot bar
rack for a year.
“To be a hostage in your country
is truly a humiliating experience,”
she said.
Yamasaki helped mark the Third
Annual Day of Remembrance by
speaking about her internment
with three other camp internees
Saturday in the Sheldon High
School auditorium.
More than 100 people came to
learn about the ramifications of Ex
ecutive Order 9066, which author
ized 120,000 Japanese Americans to
be relocated for the duration of
World War II.
The panel also included local au
thor Ed Miyakawa, who was 7 years
old when his family was relocated,
and 442nd Infantry Division veter
an Kenny Namba and his wife Ruth
Namba. Namba volunteered to
serve in the war with the division,
a segregated unit of Japanese
American soldiers, and his future
wife spent time in three camps dur
ing the war before the two finally
met afterward.
Yamasaki said it took her 40 years
to feel comfortable talking about her
internment experience.
“It’s only by telling that healing
begins,” she said.
Miyakawa, the author of “Tule
Lake” — the name of the camp
where he was a prisoner for one year
— said he wrote the book to come to
terms with his experiences.
“I was ashamed to be Japanese,”
he said, adding that when his par
ents talked about camp life, they
made up humorous stories and tried
to forget the hardships.
The camp was surrounded by
barbed wire and machine-gun tow
ers, and prisoners had to stand up
for privileges, like being able to play
sports, Miyakawa said.
Namba volunteered for the service
while his parents were interned. He
and his wife, Ruth, are outspoken ac
tivists in Portland.
“We fought for America, we fought
for freedom, we fought for democra
cy,” he said. “We were treated just
like animals.”
Wendy Kieffer for the Emerald
A panel of internment camp survivors tells their stories at Sheldon High School on
Saturday night at the Japanese American I nternment Conference.
Storyteller Megumi preceded the
panel discussion with a one-woman
performance, “Floodgates of Memo
ry.” Megumi interviewed former in
ternees of Japanese American in
ternment camps to tell a story about
three generations of a Japanese
American family: a grandfather and
grandmother, their daughter and
their granddaughter.
“It’s important to tell these sto
ries,” Megumi said, in the voice of
the grandfather.
Contact the reporter
atromangokhman@dailyemerald.com.
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